


Archetypes

by Geonn



Category: Castle
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, First Meetings, First Time, Plot What Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-15
Updated: 2012-02-15
Packaged: 2017-10-31 05:01:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/340206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geonn/pseuds/Geonn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In another time or place, their meeting might have gone better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Archetypes

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't necessarily spoilery for the plot of 4x15 or 4x16, but it's an AU that involves stuff that happens in those episodes. There are also some spoilers, ish, for the first real-world Nikki Heat novel.

She didn't tell him she was coming. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and she knew that he would try. So she arrived early and went to the upper level of the bookstore and browsed until she heard the signing begin. Castle read from the second Nikki Heat book, and Beckett tucked her scarf up over her ears as casually as she could; she hadn't read it yet, and didn't want to be spoiled for anything. 

With her ears covered and her mind distracted, she nearly collided with the woman standing at the end of one aisle. They both began apologizing immediately, even though it was definitely Kate's fault, and ended up smiling at each other with self-conscious awareness. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be, ah... blocking the road."

"It's all right. I should have been watching where I'm going. Kate Beckett. Hi." 

"Oh. Sophia Turner." She shook hands. "Hello."

Kate realized Sophia had been resting her hands on the railing, looking down to the spot where Castle was reading. From her position, he wouldn't have been able to see her. She smiled and gestured. "Are you a fan?"

"Oh, a little. I don't... really have time to read. But he seems to get it right more than most."

Kate smiled and nodded. She couldn't help indulging in a little narcissism. "So have you read the new ones? Nikki Heat?"

"I have. They... have potential. I think that--" Her voice suddenly stopped and she looked at Kate with a critical eye. "Kate Beckett, you said? As in, 'the extraordinary KB' from the first book?"

Kate blushed. "Um."

Sophia's grin expanded. She cleared her throat and leaned closer to Beckett, lowering her voice as she recited the dedication from the first Derrick Storm novel. "'To a secret agent lady, ST. For showing me how it's done and making it look easy.'"

"Wait... you're Clara Strike?"

Sophia shrugged and held her hands out as if to say _here I am._ "And you're Nikki Heat. Well." She ran a critical eye up and down Beckett's body. She looked down to where Castle was taking his seat to begin signing autographs. "Want to go somewhere we can talk?"

Kate only hesitated a second. "Sure."

#

"So have you gotten the elevator yet?"

Kate frowned. "I don't know what that means."

Sophia smiled. They were walking down a sidewalk together, with their hands in the pockets of their coats. The bookstore was several blocks behind them now, but they were circling back so they could retrieve their cars. 

"The elevator is when someone you know has read the book, knows you're the basis for the character, and tries to imagine how much of the steamy stuff is fact. Their eyes start at your face - if you're lucky." She held out her hand, demonstrating the path of their gaze with two fingers. "It goes over your chest, down your legs, and when it hits your feet it runs back up. And you can see it in their eyes when they meet yours again."

Kate cringed and thought about the sex in _Heat Wave_. Were Ryan and Esposito going to start leering at her? She doubted it. But if a suspect recognized Castle, it was no great leap to realize the cop he was hanging around with might be the real Nikki Heat. 

"I freaked you out. I'm sorry." Sophia sighed. "It's not all bad. The elevator doesn't even last very long. Pretty soon the novelty wears off and people accept that it's fiction--"

"No, it's good. I'm glad you warned me. So what else do I have to look forward to?"

Sophia sighed and lifted her chin, looking into the sky as she considered the question. "I'm not really sure, to be honest. I was just the supporting heroine; you're the star. I'm sure there's going to be added pressure on you."

"Well, I appreciate the warning nonetheless."

Sophia put a hand on Kate's arm and stopped walking. They faced each other on the sidewalk and Sophia turned to face her. "What I said earlier about the Nikki Heat books having potential? I'm jealous. The fact is, the first book was better than any of the Derrick Storm novels, and Nikki Heat is a much better character than Clara Strike. Despite the name."

Kate laughed and looked down the street, shrinking in the face of the unexpected praise. "Well, as long as we're being complimentary... when Castle first suggested basing a character on me, I was horrified. I'm a huge fan of his writing, but the thought of following in the footsteps of someone like Clara Strike, I-I... did not want that responsibility."

"Well, thank you." She looked down at her shoes and took a small step forward, infringing on Kate's personal space. Kate didn't back up to reclaim it, but she watched Sophia's face. With each exhale, their heads were shrouded by a thick white fog that obscured their features. Finally Sophia looked up at her. "You know, Clara survived the last Storm novel."

"Yes, she did." Kate decided not to say how glad she was about that.

"So it's not unreasonable to assume she and Nikki Heat might cross paths. Rick's done that before, you know; had little crossovers with himself."

Kate just nodded.

"How do you think that might go? If Clara and Nikki found themselves standing together on a cold street?"

"Well, I know how it would go in Castle's mind."

Sophia laughed and met Kate's eye. "Well, who's to say that's not how it would really go?" She took another step forward. "I'm glad you were so flustered when we met."

"Why?" Kate dropped her voice; it seemed silly to speak full volume when Sophia was so close.

"You didn't notice me giving you the elevator."

Kate swallowed hard and blinked. She leaned back, just a touch. "Oh?"

Sophia nodded. She was close enough that her breath warmed Kate's face. 

"How much?"

Sophia blinked. "What?"

"How much of what Castle wrote about Clara Strike was... true about you?"

"Oh." Sophia smiled and rolled her eyes, pretending to search her memory. Her hands rested on Kate's shoulders and Kate slipped her hands under the heavy material of Sophia's coat. It almost looked like they were dancing just outside the reach of the streetlight's glow. "Some of it."

"I want a specific."

"Then I want one for you."

Kate nodded and Sophia wet her lips with a quick but tantalizing sweep of her tongue. "Okay. In _A Calm Before the Storm_ when the KGB hit-man breaks into my townhouse?"

Kate remembered the scene well. Clara woke to a sound in her home. After a tense search that culminated in a shadowy figure grabbing her from behind and shoving a chloroformed rag against her face. Clara managed to get out of his grasp, then fought off the hit-man called 'the Fear' with her bare hands. By the time the police responded to her 911 call, the Fear was gone and Clara was drenched with sweat. All of which was impressive even before it was taken into account that Clara slept in the nude and had done all her fighting in her birthday suit.

"That was one of the first stories I told Rick. Granted, it was a deranged eco-terrorist and the fight consisted of me clubbing him over the head with a broom handle. But I really was naked."

Kate's mouth was suddenly dry.

"Your turn," Sophia reminded her.

Kate closed her eyes and tried to remember specifics from the first Nikki Heat book. "The, uh, thing about me fucking my personal trainer--"

"Uh-uh," Sophia interrupted. She was standing close enough now that there was no doubt about her intentions. "I want to know about the blackout scene. How much of that was... researched?"

"None of it."

"Really?"

Kate nodded, then reconsidered. She was blushing in the dark, wishing they were having this conversation somewhere else. Somewhere less public. 

"So when Rook leads you... sorry, Nikki... to the bed, and she flips him over so that she's on top? That's not you at all?" 

Kate blinked when her hair was brushed out of her face; she hadn't noticed Sophia's hand moving.

"Well. He guessed some stuff right."

Sophia's grin returned. "Ah. So you are a take-charge kind of girl?"

Kate swallowed and kissed Sophia. She let the kiss linger for a ten-count, then pulled back in case she'd misread the entire situation. Sophia closed the distance and resumed the kiss, and Beckett's fingers curled into fists in the waistband of Sophia's trousers. Sophia's tongue entered Beckett's mouth, and Beckett pushed it back out. Their hips collided and Kate let a very un-Nikki-like moan escape when their lips parted.

"Hum," Sophia said. "Wow."

"So I guess that answers my next question. About Clara Strike distracting the hotel maid in _Storm Season_ by flirting with her..."

Sophia chuckled and shrugged. "I had to keep Rick titillated." She brushed her nose against Kate's and gripped her scarf with both hands. "We need to find someplace horizontal."

Kate gulped.

#

Before going into the dark apartment, Sophia had turned to face Kate and kissed her again. When their lips parted, Sophia whispered, "If it's easier for you to pretend I'm Clara... that's okay, Nikki."

"No," Kate said. She kissed Sophia, whispered her real name, and pushed her into the apartment. 

They undressed in the dark, filling the space with hurried gasps, whispers, and zippers being undone. Kate stepped out of her shoes and felt Sophia's hands on her hips, dragging her pants down before kissing her hip and the curve of her ass. Kate, in turn, found Sophia's breast in the darkness and sucked the nipple into her mouth as Sophia squirmed to get out of her trousers.

Together, they left a pile of dirty laundry in the entry hall before Sophia took both of Kate's hands and led her blindly through the apartment. "This way. Over here."

"Is this where you kicked the Fear's ass?"

Sophia snickered. "Different place."

In the bedroom, Kate found a spacious bed covered with plush blankets. She let herself be thrown down onto it, waiting until Sophia straddled her before she flipped them both. She tightened her thighs around Sophia's hips and pinned both arms above her head. Sophia's laugh was throaty and full of desire. "I'm impressed. It _was_ true."

"Wait 'til you see the parts he didn't guess." Sophia's chuckle turned into a groan as Kate bent down and licked her throat. She squirmed, and Kate pressed her left leg between Sophia's thighs. Kate held Sophia's wrists with one hand, and Sophia's body arched off the bed. Her skin, soft and velvet, brushed against Kate's as they moved against each other. Sophia bent her knee and her thigh met Kate's sex.

Kate felt her orgasm nearing and moved her lips to Sophia's earlobe. "Stop, stop. Just stop."

"No," Sophia grunted, but her body stopped moving. The bed stilled, and the only sound in the room was the combined rasp of their rough breathing. "You're a sadist."

Kate laughed and nipped at Sophia's earlobe. After a few seconds, she began to move her hips again, and Sophia curled her leg against Kate's hip.

"Don't you dare do that again. I'm close."

Kate kissed Sophia, a surprisingly gentle kiss considering the way their lower bodies were moving. Sophia broke the kiss with a gasp and a cry, and seemed to levitate off the bed to press her body against Kate's. Kate kissed Sophia's face and released her hands. Sophia took the opportunity to run her hands over Kate's curves, cupping her breasts and pinching Kate's nipples between her fingers.

Kate closed her eyes and came, shuddering as she pressed her hips tight against Sophia's. She wet her lips, grunted, and then rolled to one side because the thought of anything touching her at that moment was a bad idea. She pressed her knees together, one hand over her mound, and stared at the ceiling. Seconds later, she inexplicably began to giggle. She covered her mouth with the back of her free hand, turning to see Sophia smiling at her.

"What?" Sophia said.

"Just... plotting." She cupped Sophia's cheek and kissed her. When Sophia crawled on top of her, Kate didn't fight. Sometimes even Nikki Heat liked to be taken.

#

Castle leaned back in his seat. "I guess they could exist in the same universe. And Derrick Storm's fans could get a bit more closure..." He stared off into the distance with a slight smile on his lips. "Nikki Heat meeting Clara Strike. Do you think they would even get along?"

Kate kept her eyes on the road, her hands steady on the wheel. She smiled and tried not to let her mind wander.

"Oh, yeah. I think they'd get along really well, Castle."


End file.
